Tag Archives: Canadian Court

Anyone who has ever been on an airline has, at one time or another, wound up sitting next to someone who was somewhat obese and spent the two hours feeling cramped and confined. The Canadian Supreme Court ruled in favor of the right of an obese person to two seats for the price of one on grounds, people who are “functionally disabled by obesity” have a right to spread out into an extra seat. The ruling applies to Canadian airlines.

The Court decision raises interesting legal points about the issue of which rights do other people who are “functionally disabled” possess. For example, what about the non-stop talking person next to you who will not shut up until the plane lands, does he have a “functionally disability” which requires giving him two seats in order to ensure the right of privacy for his neighbors? What about the person who has a “functional disability” requiring her head to fall on your shoulder as she snores her way into sleep oblivion? Should she be awarded two seats to allow her head to slam down into an empty chair? Of course, there is always the “elbow disabled” man who never ceases jabbing your side with his elbows? I say give him two seats.

Of course, I belong to the “silent disabled” man who wants privacy and doesn’t like anyone near me on a plane. The next time I check in I will insist on two seats for the price of one.

The Candian Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Canadian agents acted illegally when they interrogated Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr and then handed over that intelligence to U.S. authorities. The court ordered the Canadian government to hand over documents pertaining to those 2003 interrogations by agents of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service since the entire process was contrary to international law. The decision was a blow to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government which has loyally supported the US war crimes prosecution of Khadr despite mounting domestic and international pressure about the illegality of the entire process.

Khadr’s lawyer, Nathan Whittlng told reporters: “Our hope at this point is that the Canadian government will read the decision and recognize what everyone else knows, that the system in Guantanamo Bay is contrary to international law, that Omar’s rights have been seriously violated.”

The Canadian court, in supporting its decision, cited US Supreme Court rulings that indefinite detention of foreign terrorism suspects nd the Pentagon’s first war crime trials were illegal. ormer Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler commented: There can be no clearer indictment of the Guantanamo Bay process and Canada’s aquiescence in it. It is clearly unfair, illegal, and ultimately politicized procvess masking itself undere th cover of the rule of law.”